I’ve seen a lot of news lately about Democratic-Socialists, and I’ve seen conservative pundits and television personalities who seem to be terrified by the “trap” of socialism. At first, I was pretty shocked that people would be unhappy about the idea of sick kids getting medicine, (it seems cruel to me to let children die because their parents don’t have enough money to pay for the kids’s medical treatment,) but then I remembered my cultural history, and it all started to make sense.

Many people equate Socialism with Satanism. Don’t believe me? Let’s do the math. First, consider the fact that few people have read enough about communism or socialism (or been taught enough about these political philosophies in school,) to understand what they are or how they work, and therefore, most people seem to think they are the same thing. They also know that they are BAD, because the last several decades of spy thrillers (especially during the Cold War era) showed us how evil these ideologies were (particularly Stalinist or Maoist communism, which were both fascist totalitarian governmental systems, not democratic-socialism.) Next, speaking of the Cold War, some people might remember that the Bolshevik led Communist Party was explicitly atheistic, attempting to ground itself in scientific rationalism (and remove the political power of the Russian Orthodox Church.) In a strict sense, THAT brand of communism was atheistic, but this is not always the case. And the final element of our equation is the fact that, for many Christians, atheism is the equivalent of Satanism, as common beliefs hold that atheists are often just “angry at God” or have been fooled into non-belief by the Devil. (I disagree with both of these theories.)

So lets do the math:

socialism = communism
communism = atheism
atheism = Satanism

therefore, by the transitive property of equality, socialism = Satanism.

(For the record, I PERSONALLY do not think that any of these elements are equal, but if you follow the links I’ve included above, you will see that I’m not just making this up. I wish that I was just fabricating all of this mess, but sadly, many people really believe everything I’ve just mentioned.)

Further evidence for my assertion can be found in the radio program produced by William Cooper called The Hour of the Time. This was a long running, apocalyptic program, and during the course of Cooper’s shows he stated, directly and on many occasions, that there is a conspiracy at work in the United States to remake the nation into a socialist country (which will in turn force all of the citizens into slavery somehow.) Cooper claimed that this conspiracy is being carried out by Satanists (who are disguised as Freemasons, Mormons, New Age UFO proponents, Zionists, and agents of the United Nations, which he claimed is a Luciferian organization bent on controlling the entire world.) I listened to over 40 episodes of the show, his series on “Mystery Babylon,” (it was very entertaining,) and I’m certain that Cooper was sincere, and the fact that the show ran for almost ten years is pretty good evidence that he had listeners, and we KNOW that he had followers because there are still folks out there right now reposting his shows and keeping him alive on Faceboot and in the wiki lands.

Conspiracy theories aside, why is the idea of socialism so frightening? Why do people think helping elderly people or sick children get medicine is a bad thing? Is it really a terrible idea for kids to get free education all the way through college instead of stopping at 12th grade? Wouldn’t it be better if the citizens of our nation were better trained and better prepared to become useful citizens, without owing massive amounts of debt until they are in their 30s or 40s??? Why is sharing considered evil?

I remember a story from my Christian upbringing about a gathering of people who had come to listen to Jesus, and because more folks showed up than were anticipated, there wasn’t enough food to go around. So Jesus, instead of telling everyone “tough luck,” starts breaking bread, dividing the food (loaves and fishes) and spreading it out amongst all who are there. Granted, there is a “miracle” involved in which Jesus comes up with more food than was originally available—but I also learned in school that farmers are sometimes paid by the government NOT to grow crops to keep the prices of certain items from dropping too low. There could be a surplus of food very quickly, if PRICE was not a consideration.

What Jesus DID NOT DO is take his surplus, hand it over to his disciples, and say, “Make sure to sell this food at a good margin. We want to make sure our profits increase by at least five percent over last quarter, or our shareholders are going to lose confidence and our stock prices will crash!”

It sounds ridiculous—because it IS ridiculous. Jesus was a socialist, not a capitalist (if we believe the stories. I am not a Christian, personally, but that doesn’t mean I can’t consider the Christian perspective and learn from good advice. I’m not a Buddhist, either, but that doesn’t mean I have to hate the Dalai Lama.)

Meanwhile, in the mess that is U.S. politics, I have no confidence that the currently elected officials (Republican or Democrat) will ever vote for a socialist agenda. To do so would mean losing all that sweet lobbyist and campaign donation money from the pharmaceutical companies and other BIG BUSINESS interests. (That’s MY conspiracy of choice—that the government has been paid for by GLOBAL CORPORATIONS.)

What’s good for the people (solar power, inexpensive health care, free education…) is BAD for BIG BUSINESS. It’s as simple as that—but remember those loaves and fishes the next time you start thinking about the “trap” of socialism…